AIPPI, Palais des Congrès, Paris

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The 42nd AIPPI Intellectual Property Congress featured contributions from some of the most influential figures in IP and a lively debate among senior judges on the scope of patentability across jurisdictions.

The conference opened on October 4 with a roundtable discussion between some of the key players in global intellectual property: WIPO director general Francis Gurry, EPO president Benôit Battistelli, INPI director Yves Lapierre and Thierry Mollet-Viéville, president of AIPPI.

Moderated by Thierry Sueur, IP director at Air Liquide and co-chair of the congress, the panel discussed the challenges facing multilateralism in the current climate. Gurry acknowledged that WIPO faced a battle to remain integral to the progress of IP internationally, but highlighted its track record of achieving consensus in the past.

There was agreement that applications were again rising at the respective offices, but recognition that there is still a long way to go. Gurry said that applications were up by 2.8 percent compared with last year, but that the recovery was “more fragile than we would have expected 12 months ago”.